Blog Twelve

Edgar Lee Master's Spoon River Anthology was a collection of poems. An excerpt from it is a poem called The Hill. The Hill is a thirty five line poem was written about the reason behind death. Where most people would be sad and uninterested in the subject, Edgar Lee Master's wrote in a way that made you curious about the topic. One of his main points was that no matter what you do in life, you will be laying in the ground for eternity next to a complete stranger. He writes, "

One passed in a fever,
One was burned in a mine,	5
One was killed in a brawl,
One died in a jail,
One fell from a bridge toiling for children and wife—
All, all are sleeping, sleeping, sleeping on the hill"

(Masters). No matter what you do, you will end up laying dead on a hill with strangers. Edgar Lee Master's seems to view death in a way that most do not. He seems to think that life is pointless in a way.

After Thoreau's brother died, he wrote a letter to one of his friends. In it he wrote,

"Soon the ice will melt, and the blackbirds sing
along the river which he frequented, as pleasantly as ever.
The same everlasting serenity will appear in this face of God,
and we will not be sorrowful, if he is not. "

(Thoreau). He seems to value death a little more than Masters did. In Walden, he wrote

I learned this, at least, by my experiment;

that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams,
and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined,
he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.

(Thoreau). He seemed to think that life was not pointless and that one should strive for their best confidently. I think that in this passage, he means that one should try hard in life and then he/she will be rewarded.

Thoreau and Masters had completely opposite views on life and death.

Masters, Edgar Lee. "1. The Hill. Masters, Edgar Lee. 1916. Spoon River Anthology."Bartleby.com: Great Books Online. Web. 28 Feb. 2012. .
Thoreau. "Thoreau Quotes." Psymon. Web. 28 Feb. 2012. .